WENDELL: “Artworks” is made possible in part by the Citizens of Baltimore County and by the Ruth R. Marder Arts Endowment Fund, The Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker Endowment for the Arts, The E. T. and Robert B. Rocklin Fund, The Henry and Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Foundation Arts Endowment in memory of Ruth Marder.
♪ ♪ Hi, I’m your host, Wendell Patrick.
Welcome to a new episode of “Artworks” on Maryland Public Television.
This episode, we are checking out the world of street art.
From style writing to murals to new and emerging forms of expression.
I chat with Maryland-based street artist Pablo Machioli and Adam Stab about their storied and unique approaches to elevating the visual world around us.
Following that, we check out Mural Fest in Miami and the art of Brodrick Antoine and his mural at the Colleywood Barbershop.
Join me for “Artworks: The Art of Street Art.” ♪ ♪ So, one of my favorite things to do in Baltimore is walk around and stop and observe the street art.
It’s constantly changing, and I’ve been very fortunate to meet some incredible street artists that are from Baltimore or reside in Baltimore, or whose work is in Baltimore.
Learn a little bit about the community and the culture and, and, uh, I have gotten a lot of inspiration for what I do musically from those walks.
One of the things I really appreciate as well is, is the, the transient nature of the artwork.
So you could pass by somewhere and you, there’s, there’s a wall that’s empty, and two weeks later, three weeks later, there’s, uh, some beautiful imagery, imagery there.
Um, Graffiti Alley in Baltimore is a place that I walk by frequently, uh, as somebody who is a, a appreciative, I guess that artwork as a medium, it’s, it’s, it’s great to see the way that it’s represented in Baltimore, and I think people like Nether and, uh, you know, OGs like Stab who I, I, I had Adam Stab, who I had heard about for years, you know, with folks like that, artists like that around I think the murals in Baltimore will be, uh, plentiful for a long time.
♪ ♪ So Pablo and I met about, about ten years ago.
There was this, this man painting a mural, and it, it was, it was really stunning.
And, um, from what I remember, it was, it was giving an opportunity for people to other people to be able to paint, and the person painting was Pablo.
And so I went up and asked him his name, introduced myself, and I think I asked if he had painted all of that that day, because it was, it was really detailed and I, you know, it was, it was really amazing.
And he said, yeah, he, he painted it that day and, uh, so we got to talking, I told him I was a musician, and I said, I said, “Yeah, I live right over there.
You know, those are, those are my windows.”
You know, we’ve been in touch.
We, I’ve been a following Pablo’s artistic journey ever since, and it’s always a pleasure to be able to link up with ’em.
PABLO: Mm-Hmm.
WENDELL: It’s so detailed.
I mean, do you, so when you work on these, do you work on them from one end of the scroll to the, to the next?
Or do you, do you, do you fill in different sections?
What’s your process for this?
PABLO: Uh, well, it is, it is interesting, this is digital work.
WENDELL: Okay.
PABLO: The process is changing because from this, I, I come up with this one.
WENDELL: Mm.
PABLO: Which was inside on this cylinder… WENDELL: Okay.
PABLO: Of like, and this was another story.
WENDELL: Mm-Hmm.
PABLO: But the same idea of rolling inside.
WENDELL: Mm-Hmm.
PABLO: And then from this one, I jump to this one, and this is long, you, you want to… WENDELL: Yeah.
PABLO: Hold it from there, and what this is like long.
WENDELL: Wow.
PABLO: Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
WENDELL: That’s amazing.
So you can take a part of this, and digitally you can move it, like you can move things around as you want the story to, to be told.
PABLO: Yes, yes.
I can, I can, you know, change this all the time.
WENDELL: Yep.
PABLO: Uh, and the idea, like I told you before, is to, to be able to put it on a table.
WENDELL: Mm-Hmm.
PABLO: And everybody paint, you know, at the same time or by yourself.
WENDELL: Yeah.
PABLO: If you want, you know, and then have a lot of different functions because you can, when you finish, cut it and give some pieces away, like a gift, or you can just frame it and put it like a, an artwork.
WENDELL: Yeah.
PABLO: And if you do it with family or with friends, you can have this memory.
I think for me is, this is like a, a, a tool, like I told you, to connect and unite, you know, people.
WENDELL: Yeah.
PABLO: Uh, in one piece of art, you know?
WENDELL: I feel like ever since I’ve known you… PABLO: Mm-Hmm.
WENDELL: That has been a, a big part of your art.
I mean, the day that I met you… PABLO: Uh-huh.
WENDELL: You were doing something for the community that involved the community artistically and… PABLO: Yeah.
WENDELL: Has that always been?
PABLO: Yes, because as an immigrant, you are by yourself, I think coming here, I’ve been, you know, you want people, you, you know, even I like to be by myself.
I need my solitude.
WENDELL: Mm-Hmm.
PABLO: But at the same time, I meet everybody, and, and now, I now more than ever, I have a child, you know, Matilda, four and a half, my mind also is like, I’m more aware of the surrounding is they are important and we have this responsibility for the new generation of become better.
It is the approach of painting outside for is for myself and for others with this quote where say like, uh, you know, “I am because you are,” when I do something, thinking is for myself, is for others, because if it’s nobody there, uh, I will not probably do it.
It’s very necessary to have colors, uh, outside, I think, uh, colors and images are like some type of, I mean, they are a, a vibration.
Being an artist, I start learning, and I still learning it’s a role, you know, where you are kind of a tool sometimes, uh, to change the landscape, you know, with different intentions to the people then recognize you, and it start different conversation, like this one right now, you are asking me.
♪ ♪ ADAM: Uh, my name’s Adam Stab, and, uh, you know, the art I, I focus on with regard to at least where we’re gonna, where we’re gonna put our focus today is, is, is and has been for a long time style writing or graffiti art, you know, um, depending on, uh, who you’re addressing about that is, is certain you, you say, “Oh, I’m a style writer to a lot of people who think they know and they do know what graffiti is and that they’ll lose you right there,” and you’re like, “What do you mean by that?”
But that’s the today it’s an, an important difference between even inside of my own culture, um, how we define ourselves or, or make sure that people understand the intention behind what it is we’re doing, some of us, because the culture has been around long enough, literally now as a culture, that within itself, there is upheaval and rebellion in how things are applied to, and there’s, there’s literally a school of what people call now “anton style.” And, um, these are artists, these are creative people who are following in certain footsteps of what style writers have done for a long time, but they’ve gone about it without even that first call word that we use of style, you know?
So, but that’s growth, that’s development, that’s change in like any field of practition, so, you know, it’s, it’s accepted or not, like it or not, it’s a part of the growth of the community.
♪ ♪ And then everything else is all found paper too, I have a strict regimen of nothing going in my collages, even once I went beyond the use of the black-filled paper, because I kind of started getting obsessive with its presence in my life in that way.
WENDELL: Can I see it?
ADAM: Like I, yeah, I, I, I bring home a lot of (bleep) from the street fire hydrants, you know, like all kind of street experience.
And so I was picking up, you know, like everything within this certain color palette, McDonald’s wrappers and Burger King stuff, and things they like, you know, Trident things and everything that kind of fit in a, like in the human experience of people using it, it, it’s serving its purpose and kind of being thrown over the shoulder.
WENDELL: Mm-Hmm.
ADAM: That’s your way into my work.
I don’t buy anything to make this really, you know, it’s strictly got to be found, and I gotta take the time to see it, pick it up, bend it, and somebody else has had to dispose of it.
WENDELL: Mm-Hmm.
ADAM: This is us.
It’s the story of us.
The work I make is street art on every level of like, not just where I get it, but who it’s from is, is if you in the street, I’m right behind you, getting you… WENDELL: Yeah.
ADAM: And putting you in my work.
♪ ♪ The blues was an outsider art form, but it was not, not already institutionalized, it was ugly institution.
It was because of the institution.
And, and that’s the same with every last run.
So you don’t exist outside in the sense that, that even in the process of being an outsider, that you think you do because you are in constant resistance to the fact that the institution itself, in all ways, has been threaded into you and your very existence.
♪ ♪ Muralists and, and technological change and things like that, like even in the, even in the illegal world, you know, I, I dare say, uh, not as often, but the tricks to the trade are changing.
But from where we come from, from where, where most graffiti writers and style writers come from, it’s just the experience of like, you know, getting used to like, yo, tonight we’re going this big, we’re painting this thing.
One of the things I pride myself on the most is, um, you know, if I’ve decided to paint something, even if I’ve decided to paint something really big, like without needing much more than like the width of this hallway, if that I, I will get it on there, land it on a dime and not, you know, need to… that’s, that’s experience.
That’s again, like we, we judge and, and critique each other in very unique ways of what it takes to excel at what we do.
And that’s why a person, again, even a creative is like, “Yo, how is that actually done?” Because it is very proportionate, I’m getting the whole message, it’s sitting right where I wants it to, it’s gleaming, it’s three dimensional, they’re like, “That’s not easy!” Nah, it ain’t, that’s all I can say about that is it’s not, like years and years of like, doing it to like be able to get to like knowing like, oh yeah, he wants somebody right there.
And that’s really wonky, you know?
It’s a big difference between going up, especially someplace you should not be, and standing on two inches of steel and like making it tight.
Yeah, there’s a big difference, experience alone will give you that.
What’s, what’s great about the willingness, especially to do the things that are, are death-defying with your art?
Is it that, that there’s not, there ain’t nothing left like that in the world.
Rock climbers, right, so it’s us, rock climbers and surfers.
That’s it, it’s all you got because we take, we are taking it to that level now like most of the high watermark and graffiti is being done by repelling now, you guys have probably seen a little bit here in town, but yeah, like most people now, if you like really doing it, you’re traveling around the world repelling more.
What’s great about what it is to just, you know, hey, I make my art with the spray paint can, and so do you, is that that’s kind of literally the way that if you had that experience, we, we were free to behave in the sandbox as kids, you know, really just embrace each other at that level.
I got the same shaker in hand as you and so whatever, wherever you’re coming from, from we’re here now at this wall and the, they’re telling you the feeling that I have gotten now for years, I wouldn’t just gonna be doing it, of that sense of wham, when we’re here together, whoever you are, that’s like a huge payoff in your community sense.
And then taking that home with you as an individual that participates individually in your own way all the time, you know, then you don’t even need the group all-around to like super feel connected.
♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ MICHAEL: Hello everyone.
Local broadcaster Michael Woodruff.
Here’s your forecast calling for today, sunny with a high in near 75, perfect weather for Mural Fest coming up at 10:00 here in beautiful downtown Miami.
It’s a free event for the entire family, so come on down.
They’re gonna be here till about 5:00 tonight.
And while you’re doing that, why not continue to listen to some great music here on KGLC 100.9 FM Radio on the Roof?
♪ ♪ JESSICA: We’re in our fourth year, try, trying this.
Uh, 2017 was our first try.
This year, we will have 11 new murals put up by ten artists from around the state and myself.
And then one mural painted by local artists.
So, 12 new paintings.
That’s quite a, quite a big thing really for a small town.
♪ ♪ ARTIST: We’re three local artists, um, Jeanette, how long have you lived here?
JEANETTE: Uh, since I was 15, so about 45 years about.
ARTIST: Yeah, and I’ve lived here for about 45 years as well.
Jessica got ahold of us and said, “Hey, we have a wall, would you be interested?” And we, we said, “yeah.” KRIS: The Oklahoma Mural Syndicate is a nonprofit that advocates and creates public art throughout the state of Oklahoma.
They were one of the first communities that reached out to us after seeing what we’ve done with Plaza Walls, uh, in Oklahoma City.
And they were like, “Hey, will you come to our community and paint it all up as well?” And we said, “Yeah, of course.” You know, in 2017, when we first started this, uh, we had, uh, people from the community walk up and say, “Wow, this is so cool what you guys are doing.
We’ve never seen anything like this.” ♪ ♪ (vocalizing).
ARTIST: Our first year we tried Mural Fest out here.
This building was vacant at the time, and since then it got renovated was sold, and now it’s this daycare center, the praying mantis that, that was mine, bugs are cool.
KRIS: It’s really great to introduce modern art to, you know, a community that might be used to some more traditional murals.
MAY: I like to describe my style as colorful abstract work.
Um, I do a lot of work that references typography and calligraphy.
I think it’s like a nice little moment of joy, you know, like, not even just, just today, but like just seeing the murals every day.
It’s like just a little moment of happiness or joy or, you know, excitement at having a little bit of art brighten your life.
CARLOS: That’s called a doodle grid, and it’s just another form to put up a big image on a wall.
Um, in this instance, yeah, I mean, you just fill up the whole wall with a bunch of different reference points to just in order to get the image up on the wall.
And then once I have that, then I can kind of just play jazz and improvise a little bit with the color, and…
ARTIST: I have painted my whole life, six years ago, I finally, after years of wanting to try it, started spray painting.
It takes it a lot of practice to, um, really kind of get it down.
Really, it comes down to, uh, they say it’s called “can control” is the term.
It’s your ability to control the can.
There are options with, you can trade out the caps.
So you’ve got skinny caps, you’ve got fat caps for fills, you’ve got, there’s stencil caps, which I have never used, but you can get super fine lines with those.
♪ SINGER: I’ve seen you around.
♪ ♪ Crystal lady, won’t you give me a call, ♪ ♪ I need to know do you think of me at all.
♪ KELLEN: All right, here we go.
I love the idea of coming to a smaller town.
Um, the lady and her family that just bought stickers from me, uh, her son said that he liked the robots the best and, uh, that it inspired him to do some art.
So I think that that’s awesome, right?
That’s kind of the goal.
WOMAN: Okay, good.
KELLEN: I don’t, I don’t know exactly where the robots came from.
I don’t have like, some big purpose about why I started painting them, but, uh, I think they’re cool, you know, I, I’ve always been kind of attracted to, uh, like painting things that I would’ve thought were awesome as a kid, you know?
MICHAEL: Listen, KGLC 100.9 FM, Radio on the Roof.
Local broadcaster Michael Woodruff hanging out with you this afternoon.
Hey, come on down to Mural Fest here in beautiful downtown Miami.
They got some great stuff.
And while you’re at it, stop by the Coleman Theater at pick up tickets for tonight’s music performance.
It’s air-conditioned, it’s fun.
It’s KGLC 100.9 FM, Radio on the Roof.
♪ ♪ DANNY: Welcome to the beautiful historic Coleman Theater, beautiful.
This is on a stage where the Marx Brothers performed, where of course Will Rogers was here, where, where, uh, Tom Mix rode his horse on this stage, if you see behind me, flown halfway down, uh, from the fly space is Miami’s very first mural.
This is the backdrop that was here on opening night in 1929.
♪ ♪ (street chatter).
ARTIST: This is a mural that I painted about the history of commerce and life in Miami, Oklahoma.
Miami’s an interesting little town, um, the economy of it was really based on local lead and zinc mine.
It was the biggest supplier of lead and zinc for the world, really during World War I and World War II, and that built the town.
It also ruined the environment.
♪ ♪ It’s kind of that eternal story of the good and the bad mixed together.
When we moved here, there were a lot of buildings on Main Street that were boarded up, the windows were boarded up, and yet it survives.
And it’s building up now.
Downtown’s looking good, keeps getting improved.
We have events like Mural Fest.
ARTIST: Great.
ADITI: It’s a small town just trying to make their, uh, downtown prettier, so yeah.
CARLOS: It’s a very, uh, encouraging, just a great sign to see, you know, a relatively small town that’s, uh, embracing the arts in such a way.
Um, I wish that more small towns in Oklahoma would do the same because I do think that it revitalizes the community a little bit and, and it gives people something to look at every day, you know, and… JEANETTE: When we first moved here, we had BF Goodrich and it was a really happening little place on the go.
And then Goodrich shut down.
It was like Miami just lost its will to live, almost.
People talk about it, they, they see the murals, and they just talk about how happy it makes ’em feel.
And we’re starting to take some pride in things that we’re doing again.
And it, it makes me happy to drive down Main and see life.
♪ ♪ (vocalizing).
MICHAEL: Well, The Mural Fest is finally coming to an end.
If you get to come down here, it’s gonna be open, 24 hours, seven.
They did such a wonderful job, we want to thank them again for another wonderful year.
(vocalizing).
♪ ♪ BRODRICK: I am Brodrick Antoine and I created this mural.
♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Tony, the owner of the shop, he called me up and asked if I would be willing to create a mural for him, you know, portraits, ’cause that’s what I specialize in.
It was the owner’s choice who to put on a wall.
But we kind of bouncing ideas came with our final five after putting some thought into it.
I did the portraits.
Uh, another artist came in and filled in the background, but it was a collaborative piece between the both of us.
It was my first experience with a mural this size.
It was something that I experimented with at first, but it came out to, came out pretty good.
I worked with graphite mostly 18 by 24 size portraits.
Not this scale at all.
Actually started with paint at first.
Pencil kind of grew on me, but I, I’m bouncing back between the two.
It’s a little different dealing with the media ’cause a pencil, you know, it, it has a point.
This is a lot messier, a lot grittier.
Someone contacted me on Instagram.
I think he saw this, um, mural, and he wanted to do a, a mural on that basketball court.
He had a, a very strategic layout of how he wanted it placed, you know, where he wanted it, what he want, what else?
The emblems that I put on the court, you know, he had it, everything spelled out exactly how he wanted it.
It’s magic after that.
I really look up to, well, not just athletes, just anyone that, that has that strong passion in what they do.
I would like to speak to inspire other people and other artists to get out there and, you know, explore and do what it is that you’re, that you’re passionate about.
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